Truss



. o Model.) MITH,

muss. v

Patented Dec. 25, 189 4.

no: uonms PETERS cc. woTaun-ua, WASHINGYON, u. c

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LUCIUS ANTON SMITH, OF TOPEKA, KANSAS.

TRUSS.

SPECIFIWL'IION forming part of Letters Patent No. 531,343, dated December 25,1894, Application filed June 9, 1394:. Serial No.- 514,079. (No model.) 7

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LUoIUs ANTON'SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing'at Topeka, in the county of Shawnee and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trusses; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear. and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

On the 14th day of July, 1891,1in conj unction with Clement Smith was granted a patent for an improvement in trusses, No. 455,771, and my invention consists in an improvement upon the devices shown in said patent and other trusses of similar construction','as hereinafter specified and claimed. In said patent, No. 455,771, the rear ends of the spring of the truss are shown and describedas being arched upward, rearward, and downward, so as to be adapted to rest upon the hips of the patient at a point approximately parallel with the plane of the pad. This is done to give great security to the truss when in use and prevent displacement, but more especially to get the spring out of the way of the limbs and obtain a pressure approximately backward. I find upon experiment that the truss constructed as shown in said patent can be improved and displacement of the pad be almost absolutely prevented by attaching a supplementary strap to the truss extending from one end of the spring at a point nearly at the summitof the arch to the opposite end of the spring and at the same altitude. This feature constitutes the improvement I desire to protect by patent.

In the drawings accompanying this specification: Figure 1, is aperspective view of the truss representing the same in an operative position on a form in dotted lines. Fig. 2, is a View of my supplementary adjustable strap removed.

It will be observed that each end of the spring to which the pad is attached is arched upward, rearward, and downward and terminates at points substantially parallel to the plane of the pad. This mode of construction is designed to furnish security against "displacement of the pad upwardly, and in verymany cases proves efiectual. Some patients however have hips or buttocks of unusual size protruding outward and require additional means to prevent displacement of the spring and the pad. I therefore have provided an adjustable strap for the truss which is marked A, on the drawings. This strap is attached to the spring at each end at a point substantially at the summit of the arch marked B, on the drawings.

The letter H, represents the spring and K, the pad.

My usual method of connecting strap A, to the I spring is to provide studs or buttons, marked 0 on the drawings, to the spring and also forming button holes or openingsiu the strap marked D, although the same thing may be accomplished with buckles or other methods. A series of these openings as shown, render the strap adjustable and removable at will. I find by long practice with patients sufiering with hernia that a displacement of the pad is usually in an upward direction. It is therefore desirable to arrange the spring so that its main tension on the rear of the body shall be at alow point parallel with the plane of the pad, if not below it, but if not as low as the pad, my strap still will have a beneficial and steadying tendency. With this construction and the additional tension of the strap A, any upward displacement of the pad is nearly impossible.

Having described my invention, what I claim is A truss, substantially as described, consist-.

presence of two witnesses.

LUOIUS ANTON SMITH; Witnesses:

(J. A. NEALE, GEO. J. CHASE. 

